Kiertha the Dragonfriend
by Poisonplatypus
Summary: Kiertha is a young boy during the dragon/elf war. Captured by dragons when his ambush attempt goes horribly wrong, he will have to make friends to survive.
1. Prologue

**This is my first ever fanfic. I know it's short and terribly written, but I am working on something better. It is set during the elf/dragon war. (Oh and FYI, Kíertha is pronounced key-EARTH-uh)**

PROLOGUE

THE TRAP

Kíertha clung to the tree with one hand, holding the Dautherdart tightly in the other. He looked down at the communal dragons' nest at the foot of the tree, the eggs inside already broken. The sight made him quiver with excitement and anticipation. If he could do this, and live, he would become he youngest dragonslayer ever. No one else could possibly hope to equal this feat, at only thirty-one years of age. The odds were in his favor. He had a Dautherdaert, the most effective dragon-killing device ever invented. Kíertha heard a dull thudding in the distance, which broke him out of his reverie. This was it. The moment he'd been waiting for. A red dragon flew in, and landed in the small clearing where the nest was located. He watched it poke its head at the nest, then give a roar of anguish. At that moment Kíertha struck, plummeting down towards the dragon's head. As he landed on the bony platform, he plunged the Dautherdaert deep into the dragon's eye. She roared in pain, thrashing violently, so that Kíertha was thrown to the ground, winded but unhurt. As the dragon's struggles got weaker and weaker, Kíertha stood, watching, until finally, it was still. He walked over to its head and wrenched the enchanted spear free. He made a silent jubilation, which was abruptly cut short when the earth shook and there was a great "thud" behind him. With no time to look, he dived into the bushes to his right. A large paw caught him mid-flight, and slammed him against the trunk of a tree. He just had time to see a glittering mass, before everything went dark.

**I know this is short, but I wanted to get straight into the action and it's almost impossible to _not _end a chapter when you say "everything went dark." The next chapters will be longer, I promise. Please review and tell me what you thought. (I swear I won't be offended.)**** No really, review it.**


	2. Chapter 1

**To all my millions of readers who for some strange reason didn't register on the "views" counter, well, here it is…**

CHAPTER 1

CAPTIVE

Kíertha opened his eyes, then shut them again. The light was too bright. He opened them once more, this time slowly. A white figure stood in front of him. He blinked, and the figure resolved into a glistening fang. The fang was attached to a large, green dragon, it's eyes only inches from Kíertha. He attempted to scramble backwards, but found himself backed into a corner. The dragon placed a claw on his chest. Kíertha stopped moving and lay completely still, eyeing the talon. Suddenly, he felt a great presence in his mind, along with a rush of images in his head and a great well of sorrow. The shattered eggs, the Dautherdaert, the dead dragon. Then a single word, not a word, more of a meaning.

_Why?_

Kíertha was shocked. How could such intelligence come from a dragon, a dumb beast?

The claw pressed harder on his chest.

_Why?_

_You have done terrible things to my people too_, he thought back. The dragon took no notice of his words. Desperately, he thought of how the dragon communicated. He brought up images of his village and projected them to the dragon. The night the dragons attacked. Burning huts and mangled bodies everywhere. The pressure on his chest lessened slightly, allowing him to breathe again.

_Why?_ he thought. The dragon growled menacingly at Kíertha, making him flinch involuntarily, but then removed the claw completely and walked away into the middle of what Kíertha now realized was a huge cave. A smaller dragon, also green, came over and sat in front of him, blocking any potential escape. This one made no attempt to speak to him, merely say and looked in the opposite direction. Through gaps between the cave wall and the dragon, Kíertha could see a collection of around ten or so other dragons. They were standing in a ring and appeared to be communicating with their minds, heads inclined towards the center of the circle. Cautiously, he sat up, resting his back against the wall. The dragon appeared not to notice. He looked around, hoping to find some means of escape. He was in the corner of a large, stone cave about thirty feet high. The entrance was around two hundred feet away. Outside he could see several large boulders, then empty sky. The forests of his home were nowhere to be seen. Feeling a sudden pang of homesickness, he slumped back down into the corner. There was no escape.

Abruptly, the circle of dragons in the center of the cave broke up, with the same large green dragon coming towards him. The smaller green dragon moved out of the way and scurried off to join two others. The other dragon placed a claw on Kíertha's chest, as before. The rush of images came again. A picture of himself, _no_, a picture of him dead. A pause. Then another picture of himself, _no_, and then an image of himself interacting with other elves. He puzzled over this for several minutes, finally taking the "phrase" to mean that the dragons would let him live, on the condition that he never visited another of his race again. Thinking that this was a fair price to pay for his life, he nodded his head whilst projecting a mental "yes" to the dragon. The dragon seemed satisfied, and again walked away, leaving Kíertha lying on the ground.

**See! I told you it would be longer than the prologue. Next chapter coming soon, so please review.**


	3. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

INTRODUCTIONS

When Kiertha woke it was dark outside the cave. There was no moon to illuminate the plains below them and the only thing visible was the star spangled sky. The dragons were sitting around the remains of an enormous bonfire, some asleep, some staring into the coals. Several deer carcasses lay near the entrance to the cave and Kiertha averted his eyes from the gruesome sight. Feeling suddenly extraordinarily hungry, he stood and, with his hands by his sides, approached the circle of dragons. As he neared them, a white dragon growled at him. The large green dragon looked up, then lifted her immense weight off the ground and padded over to him. She sat in front of him, and began lazily cleaning her scales, though they already looked positively spotless. Unexpectedly, she sent him a series of images, whilst still outwardly acting like he didn't exist. Himself, _no_, him sleeping. "You are no longer asleep."

_Yes, _he thought back. His mind was filled by an image of herself, then an image of hundreds of leaves strewn over the ground. Kiertha was confused. She had scattered leaves? She liked scattered leaves? She was scattered leaves? At this last thought the dragon projected a mental 'yes' to him. She was scattered leaves? He felt the dragon's frustration. She repeated the sequence. Herself, the leaves on the ground. Suddenly, he understood. Her _name _was Scatterleaf. Or, in the dragon way of communicating, the image of the leaves strewn across the ground. The dragon projected a 'yes' along with a relieved sensation. Then, she sent him an image of a small blue dragon. Kiertha recognized it as the one asleep to Scatterleaf's left. She then projected a picture of a lake heaving in a storm. Her name was Wildwater. She proceeded to do this with all the dragons in the cave. Angercloud, Starlight, Stormshadow, Flamewing, Grassdarter, Nightwrath, Deepocean, Sunburner and Woodgrowl. Scatterleaf was the leader of the group. She set down the rules and always got the best pick of meat. All of them were females; male dragons did not live in groups. The three smaller dragons Kiertha had seen earlier, Starlight, Grassdarter and Flamewing were all less than thirty years old. The rest of the dragons in the group were well over a century. Interested though he was, eventually his hunger got the better of him, and he projected this feeling to Scatterleaf. Immediately, she sent him an image of the deer carcasses, and Kiertha realized she did not know that he was vegetarian. Struggling, he sent an image of himself eating nuts and berries. The dragon immediately growled, sending him several pictures in quick succession. Himself leaving the cave to collect food, then running away from the cave, then him in an elfish town. They didn't trust him. He sent her back an image of him collecting food, then returning to the cave. She replied with an image of him on his knees, and whilst the image was silent, Kiertha could tell he was speaking the ancient language. Immediately grasping her meaning, he kneeled, and in the ancient language said; 'I swear I will not meet any other elves, and will return to this cave within one hour.' Appearing satisfied, she walked back over to he spot by the fire and lay back down, gazing at the dying embers. Kiertha left the cave and looked around him. The cave was in the side of a large hill that faced out to the plains he had seen that morning. Spying what looked like a patch of blackberries about halfway down the hill, he advanced towards it. It was still only early in autumn, and most of the berries were green or red, but there were a few edible ones that he found, and he collected them and placed them in a pouch at his belt. An hour later, when Kiertha crept back into the cave, his belt pouch weighed down with nuts and berries, he saw that the fire was out and the dragons were all asleep, their chests heaving. As he tiptoed past Scatterleaf, she lazily opened one eye, peered at him for a moment, then closed it again. He sat down in the corner of the room and ate almost the entire contents of his pouch. While it did not completely eliminate his hunger, it lessened it enough for him to fall into his waking dreams, which were infested with dragons. Some of them were good, and some of them were evil.


End file.
